NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5359
SPONSOR: Cruz TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the real property law, in relation to increasing
required training for real estate brokers and real estate salespeople to
prevent discrimination
PURPOSE:
This bill aims to prevent unequal treatment and discrimination and
promote fair housing by requiring additional hours of instruction
required for real estate brokers and salespersons licenses relating to
legacy of segregation, unequal treatment, the historic lack of access to
housing opportunity experienced by disadvantaged groups, and other
related topics.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends real property law section 441 to require that the
Secretary of State, upon notice and a public hearing, to promulgate
rules establishing the content of the instruction pertaining to fair
housing and/or discrimination in the sale or rental of real property or
an interest in real property. Requires the content of instruction to
include, but not be limited to, courses on (1) the legacy of segre-
gation, unequal treatment, and historic lack of access to opportunity in
housing; (2) unequal access to amenities and resources on the basis of
race, disability, and other protected characteristics;
(3) federal, state, and local fair housing laws and (4) anti-bias train-
ing.
Section 2: Amends Section 441 of real property law and adds a new para-
graph (d) requiring applicants for a real estate broker license to
demonstrate a general and fair understanding of the laws, rules and
regulations pertaining to fair housing and discrimination in the sale or
rental of real property or an interest in real property. Requires appli-
cants to complete at least one hundred fifty-two hours of real estate
courses approved by the Secretary of State. Mandates the instruction
required for a real estate brokers license include instruction on the
responsibility for ensuring that each licensed real estate salesman
under such broker's supervision is in compliance with his or her obli-
gations under applicable federal, state, and local fair housing laws.
Section 3: Requires applicants for real estate salesperson license to
demonstrate the completion of at least seventy-seven hours of courses
approved by the secretary of state. Requires those applicants to provide
information, where the Department reasonably requires, of their know-
ledge of laws, rules, and regulations pertaining to fair housing and
discrimination in the sale or rental of real property or an interest in
real property.
Section 4: Amends real property law paragraph (c) of section 441 to
require the secretary of state to require approved faculty to sign a
document under oath, approved by and submitted to the department of
state, attesting to compliance with all applicable statutory and regula-
tory requirements pertaining to the instruction of the established
curriculum. Directs the secretary of state to promulgate penalties for
faculty that fail to meet their obligations required under this section,
including but not limited to, the suspension of their instructor certif-
icate for the first failure and the revocation of their instructor
certificate for any subsequent failure.
Section 5: Effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
On November 17, 2019, Newsday, a news organization in Long Island and
New York City, published a three-year investigation of discrimination by
real estate agents, revealing evidence of widespread separate and
unequal treatment of minority potential homebuyers and minority communi-
ties on Long Island. Additionally, the investigation revealed that Long
Island's dominant residential brokerage firms appeared to be helping to
solidify racial separations.
Newsday conducted 86 matching tests in areas stretching from the New
York City line to the Hamptons and from Long Island Sound to the South
Shore. In forty percent of the tests, evidence suggested that brokers
subjected minority testers to disparate treatment when compared with
white testers, with inequalities rising to almost fifty percent for
black potential buyers.
This bill is designed to prevent the unequal treatment of potential
minority homebuyers by increasing overall instructional training as well
as increasing instructional training pertaining to fair housing and
discrimination in the sale or rental of real property or an interest in
real property.
This bill also attempts to prevent discriminatory tactics in the real
estate industry by expanding the content of instruction to include
courses on (1) the legacy of segregation, unequal treatment, and histor-
ic lack of access to opportunity in housing, (2) unequal access to amen-
ities and resources on the basis of race, disability, and other
protected characteristics, (3) federal, state, and local fair housing
laws, and(4) anti-bias training.
Newsday's evaluation of real estate courses demonstrated an alarming
deficiency in the quality of courses. In several of the courses
reviewed, instructors spent significant time making flippant jokes about
discrimination,•debating with students about whether or not ethnic or
religious groups constituted racial categories, and what kind of indi-
viduals are more or less racist.
The need for higher standards for certifying real estate instructors is
obvious. To better enforce these mandates and ensure instructors are
fulfilling their requirements for instruction, instructors shall be
required to sign a document under oath, approved by and submitted to the
Department of State, attesting to compliance.
If an instructor fails to meet their statutory and regulatory obli-
gations, penalties prescribed by the Department of State shall be
imposed, including but not limited to, the suspension of their instruc-
tor certificate for the first failure and the revocation of their
instructor certificate for any subsequent failure.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding next
succeeding the date on which it shall have become law.
